


star-crossed

by masamune11



Series: Noragami x K [5]
Category: K (Anime), ノラガミ | Noragami
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Noragami Fusion, Anna Kushina is Kushinada-hime, Anna Kushina is a goddess, Convenient Fan-Theory, Crossover, F/M, HOMRA is his series of Regalia, Heavy Theory, Reincarnation, Suou Mikoto is Susano-O no Mikoto, Tsukuyomi Theory, Yato is Tsukuyomi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 15:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11923728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masamune11/pseuds/masamune11
Summary: There was a time when she was of a higher presence thanKushien.





	star-crossed

**Author's Note:**

> It's 2AM in the morning, so you can guess how accurate my grammar is.
> 
> Also this draft has been sitting for more than 3 months, and I was struck with an inspiration... so this happens.

There was a time when she was of a higher presence than Kushien.

She was a goddess who needed no worships, settling in the minds of mortals like an unknown concept, but still wielding enough power to reinforce her place. She was the last and currently the only child of the family, since her older siblings had been sacrificed for borrowed peace, and the one who could extend what broken peace she and her family (the father and the mother) had on this shrouded land.

(The snake of Yamata was a force of his own—a land god that thrived on evil thoughts and infidelity. Even with her position—her influence as another land god—she had no weapon, no connection, no power; she was just as helpless as her dead sisters, destined to offer her life if only to extend what peace they had on this land.)

And then came along the storm god.

He was a child of heaven, one born from the winds of the great father, and he claimed that he could purge the darkness of the land and drive the snake away. He was the answer brought by the Heaven, much to her family's joy, as means to end the strive that stalked the land. The only thing that he asked of her family was her hand in marriage.

Between the peace of the mundane world and her right to choose a partner, there was never a real choice. Thus, her parent married her (sold her) off, her divinity stripped away as she was turned into possession of Susanoo-O-no-Mikoto's.

She was named Kushien and she hated how similar it was to her old name one. It reminded her of a freedom she would never taste forever-more.

* * *

 Compared to his peers, the number of regalia which Susano-O-no-Mikoto possessed was considerably few; the one he trusted with his guarded secrets even fewer. Being the many firsts of his regalia, Kushien, somehow, automatically became one of those within the circle of his confidence, to her (visible) chagrin. The storm god always ignored her subtle, though blatant in other times, dissatisfaction... Or maybe he was simply ignorant of her well-being in general.

Eventually, things changed.

It all started with the most recent addition of his regalia—or rather, the transformed figure that was born from the broken percept of the god’s Totsuka blade. To appease the anger of the queen of heaven, he bequeathed his Totsuka as a gift of reconciliation. From its blade, the three goddesses of Munakata were born, but not many knew that the goddess returned its  _tsuka_  to her brother, as a gesture of trust and respect.

He renamed it Ryoen, because there remained only the hilt of his former self—a new identity born from the reconciliation between the children of great three. Gone was his name of old, one he gained from relinquishing the world land's evils, and in its place, was a name too fragile to hold his divinity

Just like Kushinada did, sans the marriage.

In a way, she sympathized with his fate, so caged and still like hers was.

When she came to him and explained so, her bitterness bleeding out in quiet words that retained a semblance of power—semblance of her  _greatness_ —and her eyes glinting red with passion, the blade only smiled kindly.

“Oh, my goddess, have you ever let him know what you really feel? Because this is what I believe: the storm god is just as fair as his siblings. The last thing he wants is anyone’s sorrow, and yet he knows next to nothing of how everyone works—how feeble mortals think, how the earth gods and goddesses dance, how his sibling’s queendom flourishes. But our lord is nothing but resourceful and quick because he listens. Give him a chance, my goddess. Let him know how you feel."

She valued his counsel, given his long-shared history with the storm god. So, she faced her husband, still indifferent but now gleaming with defiance, and claimed, “For hundreds of years, I am bound to you without my consent. So, I shall tell you this, milord: I loathe this bond that has shackled me for so long. Please release me.”

She was used to seeing the cold innocence that saw nothing but everything, but never in her existence had she witnessed melancholy marring those brown eyes.

“If you wish it so, my dear goddess, I shall set you free when my life is almost at an end, for this was the wish of your mother: to protect you until the end of my days. I shall release you not a moment before, for I am the heavenly god that rules the storm... and I am no oath breaker.”

The answer did nothing to satiate her hidden scorn, but nevertheless, the goddess bowed in respect, refined grace weaved in-between each movement. But anger was a curious thing to behold—something she was not used to juggling with, yet, and it surged free in scorn befitting of the one standing by one of the three.

He noticed how the god winced, perhaps due to the sting of her thought.  _Good,_ because she was still a regalia, bound by the rules that defined heaven and earth. Along the lines of rules was this statement: the regalia will never harm their masters. 

Even the high queen cannot cheat that rule.

* * *

Susanto-O’s existence abruptly ended at the hand of his (supposed) mother.

Izanami-no-Ookami, the great mother who watched over the dark and the banished, was a force unlike any other and a bundled of hatred towards the last vestiges of her husband's. When the storm god descended into the underworld, he was still untested, weak (even as one of the great three), and clueless. The mother was cruel and manipulative, exploiting his weakness in his curiosity to understand the nature of sentience. So, she taught him, like a kind nurturing teacher to her pupil, and fatally hurt him in his sleep.

She claimed that it was to retain him by her side because Yomi was too vast… and she was too lonely.

Susano-O could transport them back to the entrance of Yomi, using the last of his power to save his regalia (because the mere presence of Yomi corrupted everyone under his protection sans herself as a land goddess) before fading away himself.

When their eyes met for the last time, Kushien noted the pained and  _guilty_ look flashed at her. A part of her, one she had never acknowledged in her life, perhaps broke with it, because she knew, instinctively, that  _Susano-O was at the end of his existence... and still lacked the power to return her divinity_.

When he looked at her once more, amber eyes filled with sorrow and guilt, and mouthed the word I’m sorry, she understood that there will always be a first in everything: Susano-O-no-Mikoto, the storm god, the snake slayer, and now, the oath breaker.

Because, at the end of the day, there was no other person who could grant her divinity back—no one saved for the storm god.

And now, he was dead.

(The whole deal was rigged from the very start.)

* * *

It was the third day since her god’s death when Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the moon god and consort to the high queen, graced her presence. 

In itself, the visit was peculiar; while it was true that, despite Susano-O’s spat versus his beloved sister which led to his unceremonious banishment, the moon god maintained civility with the storm god, there was no reason for him to visit her; not ever.

She bowed, courteously, and then greeted, “Welcome to our humble abode, Tsukuyomi-sama. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

There was the faintest smile gracing his unusual pallid face (she wondered what had happened to make the god looking so  _weary_ ) when the god replied, “I come here bearing good news.”

When he pulled the sleeve of his kimono away, revealing a boy who lost his balance since he lost what he clung to previously. She noticed how his hair was as red as blood, cut in a tidy swath of red, and his amber eyes as clear as the sun; the things that signified the storm god.

Suddenly, it was too hard  _to breathe,_ the biggest question of all kept on running in her head, like a broken record:  _how_?

“I found my brother.”

(Somewhere in her heart, she knowingly rekindled the hope for her release… even when she knew herself that it was  _impossible_. That child-god was not the god who asked her hand in marriage, thus their bond meant nothing.

Kushien knew that her Susano-O was  _still_ dead.

Yet she couldn't help but keep hoping anyway.)

* * *

For all his bond with the storm god, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto knew absolutely nothing of his own brother.

“He is gone, Kushinada-hime,” he pleaded ruefully, her former name evoking her own longing for freedom that died with her god’s demise, “the current incarnation of Susano-O will not bear its past. You have to let go.”

She looked at the young form of Susano-O, prancing joyfully around the castle courtyard and wearing out his regalia left and right—so very different from the blankness filling her god when he faced land’s evil and saw through the day. He was glowing with innocence, the blank spaces easily filled with Ryoen’s easy grins and Kien’s wistful smiles.

(It was easy to accept what the moon god said.

But then the storm god looked at her and she noticed the guilt-ridden pain—an emotion that flashed through before he died. An echo. A knowing look preserved in forgetfulness, haunting her present and clouding her future.

A faint image of  _her Susano-O_.)

She huffed, “you, who have only been with him from the moment of his conception until the day you defined yourselves—such a short moment compared to the time he spent with me and the others—have no idea how he acts just like him, even now. Let me tell you that such possibility exists. “

(Because the moon god never knew that, despite the switch of personality, her new god confided in her—trusted her even when she got lost in the process. He spoke of things that he remembered not doing: of people he met before, of a life that was not his, of a girl whose hand he asked for devotion—and Kushien just knew that he was talking about a time long past. If this was not a sign of his return, she knew nothing else.)

Tsukuyomi wore his poker face, looking almost silly because Kushien was used to him running around the world to cause mischief. “I hope you are right, for your sake.”

* * *

There existed stark differences, one which gods of Heaven noticed, between the current and previous incarnation of Susano-O. They noted that the new incarnation was more rambunctious than his predecessor, the hardened look in his eyes being replaced with mischief and mirth. Instead of an un-moving countenance that was much like the calm before storm, this Susano-O was ever the embodiment of change, an ever-changing bundled of expressions and action, so much like an ongoing violent storm.

From his openness, she eventually learned that her god very much loved his siblings.

He was also keen and perceptive—such flairs gained from the time he walked the land among mortals (he was cast out for murdering Amaterasu's servant and discovered that the land was much preferable to linger in than the heaven was, much to everyone's chagrin. It was still true for Susano-O’s second incarnation). He recognized the wheels of fate turned and acknowledged those with the levers: his sister, the first child, and the outsiders--the ones whom others referred to as the  _Emishi_.

And yet, despite his sight, he never expected the shatter-points that would change his world: the disappearance of his brother and his sister’s pride.

When her sister called for his support during the siege in the far north, he came to fulfill his duty as one of the heavenly triads. When he saw her, all alone without his brother standing by her side, a vengeful lust marring her beautiful feature, the storm god ordered his forces to withdraw, turning his back from the sister he loved all too well and earning her spite for the following years. 

She remembered Ryoen asking his reason, but he was only met with a rueful—almost heartbroken—look, and threw a glance at her, “Kushien understands.”

But Kushien only closed her eyes, her silence meaning her refusal to speak. Ryoen did not ask further and she was grateful for it.

(She remembered the snake of Yamata—the evil that drowned the world in darkness, afflicting every feeble mind with helplessness, despair, and fear—and remembered how he looked at herself and her family with such hatred... and anger. Even now, she could not fathom what caused such emotion to overwhelm it so much that it pushed it to spread its blight. 

But now, she saw that same anger in the queen-goddess' eyes and wondered that, perhaps, this was how Yamata-no-Orochi started its descent into madness.)

* * *

This is what the dwellers of heaven believed in the aftermath of the war: Homusubi fell at the cost of Tsukuyomi’s death and the hundreds of gods and goddesses who answered to Amaterasu’s plight. This fact was, of course, the over-glossed version of the truth. 

This is what really happened: Homusubi fell at the cost of Susano-O's divine siblings  _and_  his progeny.

While many claimed that the moon god was among the casualties of war, only a handful of gods knew that he was never involved in the first place. The last news which Kushien heard about Tsukuyomi was of his solitary retreat to his moon base, never to be seen again. When the disappearance became too jarring, the war looming just beyond the horizon, Amaterasu herself clarified that his brother had died on his mission to keep the Emishi at bay—the first god among others who died for her cause—and made use of that lie to rally the others.

The war had been based on a lie.

The first incarnation of Amaterasu was not around long enough to rectify it.

(Even if the queen-goddess survived the ordeal, Kushien doubted that she intended to correct that mistake. She was the queen, her brothers the crutches of her power over the heavenly realm. To lose either of them was to lose her bequeathed power, and Amaterasu was already too intoxicated with it to admit such loss. 

So, she lashed out, in fear and out of love—a paradoxical display—at the enemies at the gate. It was a tantrum, pure and simple. It cost the goddess her existence. If the other gods noticed that adolescent face instead of womanly grace, they wisely held their tongue. The goddess of the sun must still be upheld in the highest place, else what little order they have would crumble down like a house of cards.) 

The war had also taken his second progeny, Ichikishimahime-no-Mikoto.

Kushien remembered the sky around Owari darkened for years, echoing the sorrow that her master possessed. Since then, she never saw him smile; a flash of a demeaning grin, perhaps, but never a genuine smile.

(Seeing how he became saddened her too, though she would never openly admit to this.)

* * *

 

Three hundred and sixty-five days later, a regalia whom she knew in name, but never in person, came to face her god.

Tsuyori looked as if his world had been broken thoroughly, then repaired with the leftover pieces—except whoever put it together never got any instruction and proceeded, still, to stick his reality in a way that left him grieving and  _lost_. His right hand was gone, his posture far too tense for a friendly visit, and his eyes were bloodshot.

 _Tears_ , she thought,  _but why?_

She and the rest of Susano-O's regalia watched from beyond the room as Tsuyori whispered the reason behind his visit, much like a confession of a guilty soul: "My goddess... Tagorihime-no-Mikoto-sama is gone, and I killed her."

She remembered her god suddenly lashing out from his seat and muttered Kien's name. Unki's red aura quickly enveloped Susano-O's fist, which was threatening to mash Tsuyori's head off. Yet despite the god's display of violence, Tsuyori kept his eyes ( _without purpose, drowned in agony_ ) level, as though he was ready to face his judgment anytime. It tugged at her heart, and perhaps, it was that same thing that stayed the storm god's hand.

That, and Ryoen's prompt response.

His most faithful regalia had quickly moved to his side, muttering things in hopes to alleviate his anger. For sometimes, she thought that his wrath would not abate... until the god's fist loosened, though his countenance remained as tense. Susano-O glared at the servant, his look completely stained with fury and pain.

"Tell me what happened.  _And don't leave anything out._ "

So Tsuyori told his stories, from the beginning until the end: from the first step of her fall to the last of her breath, from the moment she poisoned the air of Takamagahara to the time she gasped her benediction. She witnessed how her god's stance shifted, from one full of anger to defeated, until he merely slumped to Ryoen's and Kien's hold.

And yet none of them did not witness the underlying agony that shook Susano-O's presence nor his silent wails of grief. There was a brush upon her name, a silent plea for her to be with him because  _this was too much_.

It was piteous of him. And yet, Kushien closed her eyes and answered his call—a whisper of  _Shitsuki_ amidst the oncoming storm—and whispered the mantra she told herself every day since the death of her siblings:

' _Everything will be alright._ '

* * *

 

She learned more of him when they were searching for his last progeny.

The last of his progeny, Tagitsuhime-no-Mikoto, dedicated herself to stay in the Land, just like her benefactor did, and was banished for not responding to Heaven's rally. She chose to heed the words of her progenitor and then wandered through the land, seeking solace in the adventure to uncover mysteries left by the great Mother.

(Kushien remembered how Tagitsuhime's violet eyes flashed with regret and disappointment as the high court delivered her judgment. But between following through with the high Queen's plan and her progenitor's words, she knew that her personal sacrifice was a necessity. She had always been the one with the clearest sight among the Munakata three and noticed the affliction plaguing the queen-goddess. At that time, it was better to get away from that poisonous court.)

They never found her, but they managed to find what was left of her bearings: three regalias in their weapon forms, a bloodied attire stained with affliction, and the remnant of divine presence belonging to the goddess.

A victim of deicide.

She solemnly recalled the grief overtaking his form when Tsuyori confessed the death of her goddess, Tagorihime-no-Mikoto, as she cradled his spirit in her divinity. It was a quiet and sorrowful display, witnessed only by Ryoen and Kien together. But now, as the truth of Tagitsuhime-no-Mikoto quickly settled into his reality, Kushien could already feel the repercussions of this truth, because  _Susano-O had fallen on his knees, desperately cradling to the small remains of his last progeny—_

—then there was a distant  _chime_.

Followed by another. And another. Like a clunking chain tied to a pole as the person strode along with it.

It put silence into the world, as if suspending it in a state of  _stillness._ She looked at her god, now standing straight as a board as if there was an enemy near them. The rest of his regalia were mostly on edge, but nevertheless as bewildered as she was, as they threw looks that spoke, ' _what the hell is going on.'_

Except for Kien. He might have straightened his posture, but any hints of wariness were quickly replaced by alertness— _as if he knew what was about to come_. He even moved to her side, much to Kushien's surprise, his back faced at her as a meager attempt to shield her.

" _O-hime-chan_ ," he said, and Kushien might have been scandalized had it not been for the  _fear_ tainting her god's most trusted weapon, "please stand right behind me."

She wanted to ask him why, but the scene unfolding before her provided with a degree of information, at least. Where there was no one right across where Susano-O knelt, now stood a man clad in white, heavenly cloak. His face was hidden behind a seamless white mask, while his hand held onto a golden  _shakujo_ , on which his body leaning. Everything about the man screamed  _danger_.

The fact that he was scrutinizing her god only made her more vigilant.

"My dear  _son_ ," the man started, his words overflowing with a truth so harsh that  _she forgot to breathe_ , "how many more proofs do you need until you understand that Heaven will do anything to destroy you?"

Susano-O cocked his head, regarding his father, the one, and only Izanagi-no-Ookami, with an impassive glare that bred storm and  _chaos,_ amidst his grief of losing all of this direct progeny, "hello, Father. What can you possibly want?"

* * *

 

It was apparent that Izanagi did not mean to chat around.

He was there to convince his estranged god-son to rebuild Heaven by  _dethroning his sister_.

She heard of stories revolving this god: how he wed Izanami, how he killed Kagutsuchi—its first incarnation, not the one whom they had referred as Homusubi—in grief over her death, how created men if only spite his wife. There were other stories, and yet not one of them told of his scheming, nor of his manipulative streak.

"They have robbed you your Sight, cost you your Spirit, and murdered your Resolve," he said, each word tasting much like what the Munakata represented, "what more do you need until you realize that Heaven  _fears_ you?"

(They have indirectly learned that Heaven played a part in Tagitsuhime's death; she was marked, due to her dissension from Heaven's ranks, and her future quest to discover more about the great Mother. Anything involved Yomi reeked of betrayal, one way or another, and Heaven preferred prevention to cleaning up.)

Over the course of their conversation, Kushien, accompanied with Kien, managed to trot closer towards where her god stood. Both Ryoen and Sakien quickly converged to where they stood too, both looking too strained for her comfort. Susano-O noted their presences with an acknowledging glance and then recomposed his stance. His heart still sang with grief, and yet he still managed to instill protectiveness upon each of their names.

"I agree with you, Father, that Heaven fears me, for I am the only one who can strike the fatal blow towards their Queen— _towards my sister_. But what you have never known was this: I swore an oath to keep both the near shore and far shore in balance. A coup will only destroy that fragile balance, and Susano-O-no-Mikoto is no oath-breaker."

(' _I am no oath-breaker._ '

And Kushien stilled, her heart breaking into million pieces because  _had he not said that before?_ Had he not remembered of a promise made to release and grant her divinity back? 

Tsukuyomi was right; she was a fool to have believed that her god would ever return— _would ever remember_.)

The Father looked at him as if his son had grown a second head. Then he laughed, as if recalling a wistful irony. "One rebirth... and already you lost your  _grit_? My dear son..." the sound of a clucked tongue, followed by the taste of  _lightning_ , "perhaps another cycle will release you from that oath."

The Father hit his  _shakujo_ to the ground, trails of lightning running from everywhere towards where all of them stood, and everything was  _chaos._

* * *

 

Somehow, they survived the ordeal from their god's father.

Sometimes during the fight, Susano-O managed to strike down his father right at where his heart supposed to be. Unki left an irreparable hole on his father's chest, and the storm god relished on the way Izanagi's body spasm to get enough blood. Before the Father's divine essence managed to escape, the red-haired god ordered Unki to burn it to ash... until there was nothing left.

Sometimes before he delivered Izanagi to a final sleep that he deserved, Susano-O was unable to dodge one of Izanagi's blows. It hit straight at his side, together with more shots of lightning and  _fire_ , where Shitsuki was kept. She fell to the ground, battered and unconscious, propelling the storm god to hit  _harder_.

Somewhere in between, she silently witnessed the rage that propelled Susano-O to do more and recognized that  _it was not him—not her Susano-O._

When the storm god finally finished what he needed to do, he rushed to where she lied. All he needed to do was to utter her name ( _her bound name, why was he still using her bound name_ ), and she turned back... clad in amber kimono that signified autumn,  _bloodied and battered._

( _And dying._ )

She remembered of being carried away in his arms, the cool air that tasted like an autumn haze, her god whispering to her that  _everything is going to be fine, I know someone who could heal you, please don't give up._

"...Su..." she wanted to laugh hysterically, because  _talking was hard,_ while it was the  _very thing she needed right then_. The words could not flow out, so she weakly grabbed onto his hand. Her god desperately squeezed back, clinging onto her  _like a boy who was going to lose his mother._

(She never considered herself as his mother figure. Kushien had spent her time wishing for her  _Susano-O_ that she overlooked how her current one had grown into something else— _someone else_.)

"...Su...ou," she breathed, "...ook at me."  _Please, look at me_.

And he quickly stilled, his run forgotten as he heard her plea from the bond that tied them together. Sincere crimson eyes gazed at him,  _at the god who had died once and been reborn_ , savoring the view and colors that came with him: those amber eyes, that red swath of hair, Unki's soft orange glow—the things that built him into such passionate god.

She closed her eyes, Susano-O's fear overwhelming her senses, and whispered, transmitting along every regret for seeing him as the god he was not, " _everything will be alright_."

Then, everything was silenced.

(In it, she wished for time to rewind—for an opportunity to see past her hurt and did what should have mattered.)

* * *

She woke to the cradle of a man with purple shade and a forlorn smile gracing his lips, "you're finally awake."

Though she could make out the man's face and the apparel he had, her vision was still blurry. The first thought that came to her was this:  _where am I?_

The follow-up question was this:  _who am I_?

Perhaps her confusion was too apparent on her face because the man came up with an answer as if such thing--waking with amnesia on another man's lap—happened quite frequently. "You are Kushien, regalia belonging to the Susano-O-no-Mikoto," he said as if the name conveyed some special meaning.

There were whispers in her ears and visions in her mind, retelling of a story she was in—a story which chapter ended at the cradle of the second incarnation of the storm god. She let herself be swept away and sobbed because  _she had the chance—that her erasure did not completely wipe her away_.

(Her god. It could have been her god's doing.)

She was not sure of how, but she'd have plenty of time to figure things out.

"I'm Kushien," she chanted, bordering half-sobbed, as she closed her eyes, "and I'm the regalia of Susano-O-no-Mikoto, the storm god."

_And I have my second chance._

**Author's Note:**

>  **List of Regalias working under Mikoto Suoh is as follows:**    
>  **Format: [Given-Family Name] ([Kanji Name], [Family-Given Name]) — [Kanji]/[Sound in the name] — [Human Name] || [Vessel Name] || [Form]**
> 
>   * Tatara Totsuka (十束 多々良,  _Totsuka Tatara_ )— human: 良/Ra - Ryoen | vessel: Ryouki | form: earring that serves as natural glamour which can trick even a god with great spiritual perception
>   * Izumo Kusanagi (草薙出雲,  _Kusanagi Izumo_ ) — human: 雲/Mo - Kien | vessel: Unki | form: red flame that encloses its user; can be made into fire blasts, shield, aura, etc.
>   * Anna Kushina (櫛名アンナ,  _Kushina Anna_ ) — human: 櫛/Kushi - Kushien | vessel: Shitsuki | form: normal unsuspecting comb
>   * Misaki Yata (八田美咲,  _Yata Misaki_ ) — human: 咲/Saki - Sakien | vessel: Shoki — form: divine garment, casual black leather jacket which can sprout a pair of crow wings that enable flight
> 

> 
> **List of Regalias working under Tagorihime-no-Mikoto ( _Ri_  family [理]) that appears in this chapter is as follows:** 
> 
>   * Gouki Zenjou (善条剛毅, Zenjō Gōki) — human: 毅/Ki - Tsuyori | vessel: Giki | Form: Dual katana, one missing its blade, and a samurai-esque divine garment.
> 



End file.
